Ghosts of Christmas Past

Posted on Thu Jan 11th, 2024 @ 10:10pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Laurier Cami

Mission: Fractures
Location: SS Mary Rose
Timeline: Past
1331 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The battle with the Temperance had left its mark on the ship, and out of the available engineers, it was Cami who was running down the corridor to ensure the EPS grid didn't blow up. Not that the ship would actually blow up, but with Burnie for a chief engineer, things combusting was part of the job description.

She bounded around the corner, a wave of momentary dizziness washing over her before her vision cleared and she tumbled straight over someone else in the corridor. As they bundled each other over, Cami yelped out an apology.

"Ah! Sorry...I should have looked where I was..." She blinked when she realised she was looking into a face that she had never expected to see. "D-Dixoho...?"

Dixoho looked at the woman confused for a moment trying to work out what was different about her friend before she shrugged. “Who else would it be?” She laughed nudging her shoulder before looping her arm through the woman’s. “I have been looking for you though. I thought we could try out that cocktail you mentioned last night.” The red head carried on speaking.

"Last...night? What?" Cami felt the colour drain from her face. "Dix...you're...okay?" She reached out to grasp hold of the red-haired woman in front of her to make sure she was really there and not some figment of her imagination.

Dixoho grasped her back and grinned at the woman trying to work out why she was seemed so animated suddenly. “I am a bit tired but I am no where near as pale as you. Are you okay?” She wondered softly.

"Okay, either I'm going totally mad or something screwy is happening here. Because you're...up. Walking around. And not, you know, in a stasis pod..." Cami scratched her head. "And you're asking me for cocktails, so this is definitely not strange for you."

“Stasis pod? Up? I know I have been a little wonky since we swapped but Leiddem told me to get up and get moving so here I am.” Dixoho laughed trying to ignore the weirdness of the conversation why was Cami asking so strange.

The Bajoran fell silent and just stared at Dixoho for a long few seconds. Then she lurched forward and grasped the redhead in a tight hug. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Dixoho was stunned for a moment her hands pinned to her sides before she slowly moved them from her side and wrapped them around the woman. “What’s wrong Cami?” Dixoho wondered quietly.

A thousand things, if Cami was honest with herself. The last time she had seen Dixoho had been the day they put her terminally ill form into a stasis pod. A pod, she noted with silent self-judgement, that she had not been to sit vigil beside in many months. There was guilt there, but also an incredible sense of relief and happiness at seeing her there in the flesh. "So much has happened...so many things to say. Listen, it's important: I know what's going on in your head and I know how little time we have. I just needed to know it was really you."

“Of course it is me. Same me that got up this morning with hangover thanks to you” Dixoho replied still hugging the woman tightly to her. It was hard to not think on things but the hug was nice after all the strangeness of swapping but she thought that they were my moving past it.

"Hangover...?" Cami frowned, fixing her with a concerned look. "I thought you were...you know, dying."

“Do I look like I am dying right this moment to you?” Dixoho laughed. “Ever since we swapped bodies you’ve been like this. I am sorry Cami that you had my failing body but I am not failed yet.” The woman said worried about her friend now. It was worrying how she was suddenly struggling with how she was going to be unwell in the future. She was trying to live her life to the max even with Michael returning.

"No, you can't say that. You can't say that you're sorry..." Cami put her hands on Dixoho's shoulders, partly to confirm she was really there, partly to convey her seriousness. "When you say your body hasn't failed yet...how are you doing?"

“Tired but trying to live my life to the maximum.” The trill answered smiling at the hands on her shoulder and put her hands over her. “Are you okay?” She wondered back thinking back it was time they spoke more about what had happened when they swapped jobs.

"Not really, no. Dix..." Cami sighed. Her hands on shoulders turned into another hug. "I've missed you."

Dixoho could not help but feel like she was missing something very important but said nothing just savoured the hug. She let the woman hug her close before she wrapped her own arms around Cami. “I’ve missed you since last night.” No one ever sounded this happy and relieved to see her so it was nice even if confusing.

"Last night..." Cami frowned again. "No. That's not right. It's been months...Dix, is everything all right? Am I...am I all right...?"

“I am okay but I am starting to think that you are not okay.” The red head said gently. Maybe she should get the Bajoran to sickbay and get whatever the new guys name was to check her over. Maybe she had been hurt in engineering or breathed in something she should not have.

"Yeah. No. I don't really know..." Cami's confusion continued, her eyes still taking in the other woman's presence. Not a hologram. Probably not a ghost - the real Dix was still alive, just in stasis - unlikely an alien intruder like in the old holovids. Not impossible, though. Or maybe Cami was just having a psychotic episode. With this ship, it was difficult to know the difference.

“Come on.” Dixoho said gently wrapping just one arm around the woman starting to lead her along the corridor. She was concerned but the fact the woman was agreeing to come along to sickbay was good.

Cami let herself be escorted for the moment, her mind wrapped-up in a number of feelings. She'd missed Dixoho. And she felt guilty that her friend had almost been forgotten by those left on the ship, herself included. "How...are you feeling?" she finally asked, wondering about this version of Dixoho's health.

"I am okay... the medication seems to be working for now. I am healthy. I can breathe." She shrugged. All in all, she felt better than she had in a long time. Things were going okay for her at the moment but that was mostly down to having great people around her again who cared and were settled instead of the roundabout things had been the last couple of years.

"Good. That's good. You know, because...with everything that's been going on, I haven't had chance to say..." she sighed.

Dixoho smiled patiently at the woman and watched as she seemed to to be looking for some courage to say something “What have you not had a chance to say?” The woman wondered.

"I was going to tell you that-" Cami turned as a faint wave of dizziness struck again. Suddenly she was completely alone in the corridor, an empty space where Dixoho had been. A tremor of fear swept through the Bajoran as her eyes darted up and down the corridor, seeking and searching for someone who was no longer there. Of course she wasn't. Because Dixoho was in a stasis pod elsewhere in the universe. Held, a mere moment away from death.

Cami's shoulders sank. "...that I love you..." she whispered, finishing her sentence; not that Dixoho would ever hear. A single tear slid down her cheek. Wordlessly, she continued on her way, looking for solace amid her moment of utter inescapable loss.